3.3 Managing NCP Server

After you have installed NCP Server and created and mounted
NCP volumes for your specific needs, some additional information
can be useful to help you effectively manage NCP Server. This information
consists of instructions for dismounting, removing and purging NCP
volumes, and viewing NCP Server information.

3.3.1 Viewing NCP Server Information

You can view information on NCP server configuration and volumes
using either the NCPCON utility or Novell Remote Manager.

Viewing NCP Server Information Using
NCPCON

Enter ncpcon at the Linux server console,
and then use any of the following NCPCON commands to view NCP server
information:

Displays a list of currently mounted
NCP volumes. You can also specify a specific volume name with the
command to get information about that volume

Viewing NCP Server Information Using
NRM

On the Novell Remote Manager main page in the left column
under Manage NCP Services, click View
Server Information. You can also click View Diagnostic
Information to view NCP server diagnostic information.
This can help you troubleshoot NCP server problems. You can click
the pid value to access additional pages for process information
and to change file attributes for specific NCP-related program files.

3.3.2 Managing NCP Server Volumes

After creating and mounting an NCP volume on your Linux server,
there might be occasions when you want to dismount the volume, purge
deleted files from the volume, or remove the volume mount point.

Dismounting an NCP Volume Using NCPCON

Enter ncpcon at the Linux server console,
and then enter the following command:

dismount volume_name

Replace volume_name with
the name of the volume you want to dismount. This command removes NCP
client accessibility to the mount point represented by the volume
name. You can also replace volume_name with all to
dismount all NCP volumes on the server.

Dismounting an NCP Volume Using Novell
Remote Manager

On the Novell Remote Manager main page in the left column
under Manage NCP Services, click Manage
Shares, then click the Unmount button
next to the NCP volume you want to dismount.

Dismounting an NCP volume makes it inaccessible to NCP clients.

Purging Deleted NSS Files Using NCPCON

Enter ncpcon at the Linux server console,
and then enter the following command:

purge volume volume_name

Replace volume_name with
the name of the NSS volume you want to purge. This command purges or
permanently removes deleted files from an NSS volume. This command
only works with NSS volumes.

Removing an NCP Volume Using NCPCON

Enter ncpcon at the Linux server console,
and then enter the following command:

remove volume volume_name

Replace volume_name with
the name of the volume you want to remove. This command does not remove
or delete data. It only removes the NCP volume mount point (path
and association) that was created when you created the NCP volume.

If you have removed an NCP volume and want to restore it,
you must create the volume again like you did when you first created
it.

Removing an NCP Volume Using Novell Remote
Manager

On the Novell
Remote Manager main page in the left column under Manage
NCP Services, click Manage Shares,
then click Delete Existing Share.

Enter the name of the NCP volume you
want to remove, click OK, then click OK again
to confirm the volume removal.

This removes the NCP volume and path association. This does
not remove or delete data from the directory; it only removes the
volume mount point that was created.

3.3.3 Managing NCP Server Connections

You can view a list of NCP server connections as well as get
specific information for each connection. Using Novell Remote Manager,
you can also clear specific NCP connections and send a broadcast
message out to current NCP connections.

Viewing NCP Connection Information Using
NCPCON

Enter ncpcon at the Linux server console,
then enter the following command:

connection

You can also enter connection list to get
more detailed information on NCP connections, or specify the connection
number to get detailed information on a specific NCP connection.
For example, you would enter connection 1 to
get specific information on that NCP connection.

Viewing NCP Connection Information Using
Novell Remote Manager

On the Novell Remote Manager main page in the left column
under Manage NCP Services, click Manage
Connections.

Use this page to view NCP server connection statistics and
the list of connections. You can also broadcast a message to all
currently connected users and clear selected connections.

To broadcast a message to all NCP connections, type the message
you want broadcast and click Send.

To clear specific NCP connections, check the boxes next to
the connections you want to clear and then click Clear
ALL Marked Connections.

3.3.4 Disabling and Enabling Opportunistic
Locking

Opportunistic locking (Oplocks) improves file access performance
and is enabled by default in NCP Server. Oplocks provides a way
to cache file data at the client. It allows the client to read and
write data using its local cache and interact with the file server
only when necessary. Oplocks improves both client and network performance
by reducing the amount of traffic on the network.

There are two levels of oplocks available with NCP Server.
You can set oplocks to either of these levels or disable oplocks
completely. By default, oplocks is set to level 2, which includes
both level 1 and level 2 functionality.

To disable oplocks, edit the etc/opt/novell/ncpserv.conf file
and add the following line:

OPLOCK_SUPPORT_LEVEL 0

To set oplocks to level 1, edit the etc/opt/novell/ncpserv.conf file
and add the following line:

OPLOCK_SUPPORT_LEVEL 1

There is no need to add a line to the ncpserv.conf file to
set oplocks to level 2, because it is by default set to that level.

3.3.5 Setting Volume Definition Flags

There are two options that can be added to provide NetWare-like
functionality to non-NSS NCP volumes on Linux. These are the Enable
Archive Bit option and the Inherit Posix Permissions option. Both
options are disabled by default. The Enable Archive Bit option turns
on support for the DOS archive bit on files. NCP, like Samba, uses
the user-execute mode bit to save this information. For more information
on the Inherit Posix Permissions option, see Section 4.2, NCP on Linux Security.

Setting Volume Definition Flags Using
Novell Remote Manager

Adding these options using Novell Remote Manager can only
be done during the volume creation. See Step 3 for information on adding these options
using Novell Remote Manager.

Setting Volume Definition Flags Using
Ncpserv.conf

To add either or both of these options, edit the etc/opt/novell/ncpserv.conf file
and add the following flag(s) to the end of the volume definition
line for the volume you want to add the options to.

Enable_Archive_Bit

Inherit_Posix_Permissions

The following sample volume definition lines provide examples
for adding each option individually and together:

3.3.6 Monitoring NCP Server

You can monitor NCP Server connections, communications, volumes,
and diagnostics using NCPTOP. NCPTOP is a monitoring utility that
has the look of the NetWare Monitor utility, and is an interactive,
real-time reporting utility. It is part of the novell-ncpserv RPM.

After NCP Server has been installed, you can start NCPTOP
by entering ncptop at the Linux server console.
Different statistic monitoring functions of NCPTOP can be accessed
using the F1 through F5 function keys. The purpose of each function
key is displayed within the NCPTOP utility.

3.3.7 Changing the NCP Server Code Page

NCP Server by default uses the code page corresponding to
the Linux server’s default language. For example, if the
Linux server is installed as a Japanese server, NCP Server will
by default use shift-JIS as its local code page. If the Linux server
is installed as a French server, NCP Server will by default use
CP850 as its local code page. NCP Server can automatically detect
and use most commonly used code pages.

If you want NCP Server to use a code page that is different
than the one that is set by default, you must specify that code
page in the /etc/opt/novell/ncpserv.conf configuration
file.

Open the /etc/opt/novell/ncpserv.conf configuration
file and add the following line

LOCAL_CODE_PAGE Code_Page

Replace Code_Page with
the code page you want. Some examples are CP437, CP850, CP737, CP866,
CP874, CP949, SJIS, BIG5, and GBK. For a complete list of available
code pages, type iconv --list | more at
the linux command line.

3.3.8 Disabling Sendfile Support

The Linux sendfile() API improves the performance for file
reads. Samba has had problems in the past with sendfile(). Sendfile()
support is enabled by default. If you experience problems with Samba
and sendfile(), you can turn sendfile() off by adding the following
line to the /etc/opt/novell/ncpserv.conf configuration
file.

SENDFILE_SUPPORT 0

You can also replace the 0 with a 1 to turn sendfile() back
on.

3.3.9 Enabling and Disabling the Execute
Only File Attribute

The Execute Only file attribute is enabled by default. You
can disable it by adding the following line to the /etc/opt/novell/ncpserv.conf configuration
file.

EXECUTE_ATTRIBUTE_SUPPORT 0

If this option is enabled, volume archive bit support is turned
off automatically.

You can also replace the 0 with a 1 to enable the Execute
Only file attribute.

3.3.10 Enabling and Disabling Cross Protocol
Locks

Cross-protocol locks are disabled by default. Enabling cross-protocol
locks turns on the cross-protocol checking for physical record locks
This lets you run applications from Samba and NCP clients concurrently;
and each will recognize when the other has the file in use. Enabling
cross-protocol locks also enables file share modes. File share modes
allow an application to specifiy whether or not it allows other
clients to read and/or write the file while it is using
it. Commonly, this is used to allow other clients to read the same
file but not write to it while the primary client is using it. Without
share modes, applications incorrectly assume that they have exclusive
access to a file.

You can enable cross-protocol locks by adding the following
line to the /etc/opt/novell/ncpserv.conf configuration
file.